the economy could potentially slip back into recession. the white house has described this as a working vacation for president obama, but the reality is that negotiations are largely deadlocked on all sides. there have been a few talks going on at the staff level, but the real bulk of this work is going to get done when lawmakers return to washington later this week after the christmas holiday and resume manageses. that's when we're going to see the focus really shift away from the house and on to the senate. of course, speaker boehner tried to get his plan b, alternative bill through the house. republicans rejected that, couldn't get enough votes for it. it was really a blow to speaker boehner. now we see the focus shift to the senate. senate majority leader harry reid, minority leader mitch mcconnell will try to hammer out a deal and by all accounts, it will be a smaller deal, thomas. >> nbc's kristen welker traveling with the president in hawaii. kristen, thanks so much. joining us to talk about the chances of reaching a deal, democrati